Peterson gets $15.3 million signing bonus

Posted by Mike Florio on July 30, 2014, 6:28 AM EST

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Usually, a reporter publishes a player’s “guaranteed” money in a new contract without explaining how much is fully guaranteed at signing, how much is guaranteed for injury only, and when injury-only guarantees convert to full guarantees in the future. For players like Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman and Cardinals cornerback Patrick Peterson, the vague, incomplete information has initially come directly from them.

Peterson tweeted late Wednesday that he has signed a five-year, $70 million extension with $48 million guaranteed. (It’s actually $70.05 million over five, a small difference but also an important one.) Per a source with knowledge of the contract, only $47.3 million becomes fully guaranteed. The full $48 million is guaranteed for injury only, for now.

The best guaranteed money in any NFL contract comes from the signing bonus. According to the source, Peterson gets $15.3 million from the Cardinals.

Then, by the fifth day of the 2015 waiver period (which comes the week after Super Bowl XLIX), a total of $27.8 million will have become fully guaranteed, for skill, injury, and cap.

By the fifth day of the 2016 waiver period, $42.619 million becomes fully guaranteed. By the fifth day of the 2017 waiver period, the rest of the $47.3 million becomes fully guaranteed. The last $700,000 never becomes fully guaranteed.

The formula gives the Cardinals three different opportunities to move on before the guarantees fully vest, but the triggers come very early in the offseason, forcing Arizona to make a quick decision in early 2015, 2016, and 2017. If/when they decide to move on, Peterson would the market more than a month before the start of free agency. (In contrast, the 49ers have until April 1 each year to make a decision on Colin Kaepernick, three weeks after the start of free agency.)

Again, Peterson finagled this contract with two years left on his rookie deal. He’s the first first-round pick in the rookie wage scale era to get a second contract. For the rest, it could be a while until deals start getting done.

Smart move by Cards front office. He may have “finagled” this contract 2 years early,but barring injury,it would’ve cost the Cards a lot more in 2 years to re-sign him,because I don’t see the market for All pro,shut down DB’s going down…..

clarencewhorley says:Jul 30, 2014 6:43 AM

Sounds like a very good contract for Peterson and if the cap doesn’t go WAY up next year could spell the end to Fitzgerald that many have predicted.

catfish252 says:Jul 30, 2014 7:57 AM

No corner is worth that type of money

pats777 says:Jul 30, 2014 9:21 AM

So in a few years, half the Card’s salary cap will be filled by only two players? Sweet.

Very good negotiations by Peterson’s agent. “The formula gives the Cardinals three different opportunities to move on before the guarantees fully vest, but the triggers come very early in the offseason, forcing Arizona to make a quick decision in early 2015, 2016, and 2017. If/when they decide to move on, Peterson would the market more than a month before the start of free agency. (In contrast, the 49ers have until April 1 each year to make a decision on Colin Kaepernick, three weeks after the start of free agency.)”

If the Cardinals decide to cut him either of these years he will be a free agent before free agency begins and can shop himself around AND sign before the market get saturated. To quote Red from Shawshank, “Did I say you were good? You’re a Rembrandt.” Great work.

He must have displayed a lot of Sherman-related rage towards the bidwells.

Clearly, he’s obsessed over the Sherman hype.

theoriginalcardsfan says:Jul 30, 2014 10:49 AM

In other words, PP isn’t going anywhere for along time. Good signing, Cards. The agent may have done his job, but the Cards GM isn’t stupid – he ain’t going anywhere anytime soon, so why fight over sticklers that really don’t have to be bothered with over the life of the contract?i